Schools
High School Basketball Previews
The girls' and boys' high school basketball teams are kicking off the 2011-2012 season.
Girls Basketball
The Rockville girls basketball team may be young again this year but the Rams have many returning starters from last year’s team.
The Rams are led by sophomore Courtney Joubert who is the returning leading scorer along with fellow sophomore Daphne Botteron who led the team in rebounding last season. Other returning key players are sophomores Danielle Wemmell, Wendy Weston, Hannah Steed, and Emily Burg, who did not play last season due to a knee injury but will hope to rebound into top form this season. All varsity players are either sophomores or freshmen but head coach Craig Archambault expects the leaders to step up this season using their experience from last season.
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“We have a young varsity team that returns an athletic core group of sophomore’s who gained valuable varsity experience last season,” Archambault said. “We are looking to build on this experience as we return all but one varsity member from 2010-2011.”
The Rams will compete in a very competitive league with teams like Tolland and E.O. Smith who look to make state title runs and a Bloomfield team that returns a solid core group.
The Rams dropped their first game, 45-29, at home on Friday against Rocky Hill.
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Boys Basketball
The Rams boys basketball team features eight seniors that includes Neil Gentile who started all 20 games last season for Rockville.
The other seniors are Tavi McGhee Kelly, Mike Hatch, Tyler Green, Evan Caine, Chris Watts, Travis Corbitt, and Vince Desilets.
Juniors Raequan Barber and Kurt Annelli are also expected to make big contributions along with sophomore Sean O’Gara and Alix Perry. Head coach Peter McCann expects his senior leadership to pave the way for the rest of the team.
“We have an older team so leadership should be a strength for this year’s team,” said McCann. “To have success this season the team needs to buy in to the team defense concepts as we will be undersized at every position on the floor.”
McCann is hoping that O’Gara and Perry can step up and provide a dominating inside presence that can also grab in the rebounds.
The Rams first game is against Manchester at home on Dec. 14 at 7 p.m.
